Chick, not growing, loose stools, lethargic, gurgling crop

[Poor Chick]

I have a 2 week old Barred Rock chick, who is the same size as the one week old chicks. She has always slept more than the others and had loose stool, when I've seen her go. I've had to clean her bottom a few times. They are fed fermented organic feed and have had vitamins and electrolytes in their water from day one. Yesterday she crashed. She will only move to scoot closer to the other chicks. I started feeding her an egg yolk electrolyte mixture one drop at a time from a syringe, but can only get 1 to 1.5 ml in her every hour or so. Last night I started them all on Corid water, because I didn't want to risk it being that and losing them all. When I gave her 1 ml of the corid water, she threw some of it up. I had noticed in previous feedings that her crop was a very little gurgly, and she acted like she had to re-swallow at times. Next feeding I mixed Corid water with egg yolk and she kept that down. This morning after not having anything for 7 hours, her crop was extremely gurgly, but she kept down 1.5 ml of the mixture. I let her go 4 hours after that feeding and then felt her crop, it was soft and squishy, not empty, but also not huge. I gave her 1.5 ml and she kept having to re-swallow, and at the end a little bubbled out her beak. What should I do? I haven't noticed any smell from her crop, but obviously it's not emptying properly. Do I keep on with the Corid water? Do I treat her for sour crop, and if so how do I do that for one so small?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. How much does she weigh? 1.5 ml might be a little too much liquid for her.

 

[Poor Chick]

I went in to weigh her and she had died. I'm having a terrible time. I lost a chick 2 weeks ago when I first got them, I lost 4 year old hen earlier this week, and now this chick.
Should I continue to treat the other chicks with Corid, even though they show no symptoms?

 

[casportpony]

Oh no, I am so sorry for your losses. I would continue the Corid. Let me go get some dosing instructions for you.

 

[Poor Chick]

Oh no, I am so sorry for your losses. I would continue the Corid. Let me go get some dosing instructions for you.

I have the 9.6% solution, and used 2 tsp for a gallon of water. That was what I found was recommended for severe cases, but maybe that's too much since the ones left are symptom free.

 

[casportpony]

I have the 9.6% solution, and used 2 tsp for a gallon of water. That was what I found was recommended for severe cases, but maybe that's too much since the ones left are symptom free.

That amount is fine.

Treatment	20% Powder	9.6% Liquid
For 3-5 days	1.5 teaspoons per gallon	2 teaspoons per gallon
then for 7-14 days	1/3 teaspoon per gallon	1/2 teaspoon per gallon

 

[Poor Chick]

That amount is fine.

Treatment	20% Powder	9.6% Liquid
For 3-5 days	1.5 teaspoons per gallon	2 teaspoons per gallon
then for 7-14 days	1/3 teaspoon per gallon	1/2 teaspoon per gallon

Thank you. I hope the rest of my chick raising experience is drama free. I bought them at a local store, but I'm thinking they must have been stressed in shipping, since 2 of the 6 never acted quite right and ended up dying. I ended up buying 2 more a week later, and they were so much perkier than the first 6.

 

[casportpony]

Yeah, that shipping can really stress them out. Glad to hear the two new ones are doing okay. Sometimes, I like to weigh my chicks to make sure they are gaining enough weight, so if you're concerned about the others, maybe you could get a baseline weight of each, then weigh them every few days.

 

[Poor Chick]

Yeah, that shipping can really stress them out. Glad to hear the two new ones are doing okay. Sometimes, I like to weigh my chicks to make sure they are gaining enough weight, so if you're concerned about the others, maybe you could get a baseline weight of each, then weigh them every few days.

So what do you do if you find one is not growing well? Yet another chick from the same batch has stalled in growth. It weighs in at 91g, while it's peers are in the 150 -160g range. It is also one step behind in feather development, and has more cecal type stools than regular formed stools. We just finished the coccidia treatment, and she acts normal.